Documentation of Mongolian Buddhist Temples
The Race to Record Vanishing Memories
THE MONGOL MESSENGER
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
By Alina Campana
During the 1930s, in less than a decade's time, centuries of Mongolia's history
and a large part of its culture were virtually erased. Now, there are still
a few remaining Mongolians who would have been alive at the beginning of the
20th century, and a group of researchers has entered in a race against time
to record their experiences, knowledge and memories before they are gone forever.
The starting line is this May in Tuv aimag, where the group of foreign and
Mongolian researchers will begin the multi-faceted project. They will search
for and record the exact locations of temple ruins. A man named Rinchen created
an atlas of temple ruins in 1979, but it is sketchy at best. Using this atlas
as a general guide, the research team will travel around Tuv aimag to find
the actual sites, photograph, and record their GPS locations and the status
of the temple—whether its active, destroyed, a museum, etc. They will
also record the historical background and personal stories from the locals.
According to Guido Verboom, Mongolia Programme Manager for Alliance of Religions
and Conservation (ARC), this is one of the most important aspects. "We
need to preserve this knowledge, before it is too late. People that know are
becoming less everyday."
The project is a collaboration between ARC and the Arts Council of Mongolia.
The research in Tuv aimag will be headed by the Dutch researcher Renske Franken
and is funded by the Jan Brummelhuis Grant Programme of the Mongolian Consulate
in the Netherlands. They hope to continue the project in other aimags. "We
hope to find stories," said Verboom. "About the monasteries: what
happened, what people did, what the monasteries meant for the people."
Verboom said that restoration of ruins is not a further goal of the project.
"What is most important to people is having functional religious centers.
It is common to have a new temple built [not on but] near an old site. The
ruins themselves have significance in their own right."
ARC
allowed Verboom to make time available to devote to initiating this research
project, but the project isn't far from ARC'S own activities. ARC is a secular
organization which works worldwide with different faiths on environmental
issues. The small staff working for ARC initiates and organizes projects,
but the religious groups implement them. "Religion has a certain authority,"
said Verboom. "In general, secular organizations are slightly scared
of working with religions. But actually, they are a very good partner."
In Mongolia, ARC focuses on raising general awareness and understanding of
environmental issues and the idea that everything is interrelated. Besides
local community activities, ARC also does training for monks. "The materials
for the trainings are rooted in Buddhist teachings, and from these we offer
them tools to work in modern times," explained Verboom.
Ts. Ariunaa, the Executive Director of the Arts Council of Mongolia, said
that it is encouraging to see rising interest in Buddhism from different perspectives.
"It is a part of our heritage that many of us don't know much about,
she said. 'Making connections to the past before they are lost forever, and
making those connections speak to people today, is important both for us and
our future generations." The Arts Council is currently developing an
alternative tour of Buddhism in UB, exploring locations off the beaten path
and providing information that isn't commonly known. The tour will run this
summer.
The group plans to publish their findings on the internet. To follow their
progress, visit www.mongoliantemples.net.
For more information on ARC, visit www.arcworld.org.
For more information on the Arts Council of Mongolia, please call 319105 or
visit www.artscouncil.mn.
Original article:
image http://antropia.net/guido/images/researcharticle.jpg
text http://www.mongolmessenger.mn/issue/040417.php
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